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Numerator Pictures
Numerator Pictures is one of the oldest production studios still active in Create a Year of Movies. The studio was formed shortly before Year 12 and has run through Year 34 currently, with a three year hiatus including Years 31-33. Numerator Pictures is a legend in the movie-making business for stealing Best Picture in its first year of operations from several well-entrenched studio giants and winning its second Best Picture award two years later in only its third year of existence. The studio is best known for its production of multiple historical and period pieces that have consistently been major players at the Oscars and in addition for its well-planned franchises of blockbuster films that receive large amounts of critical acclaim in addition to massive box office revenue. Three of the ten highest-grossing films of all time domestically were Numerator Pictures productions. The studio has returned from its three-year hiatus with revived energy and specific goals to accomplish. Formation In Year 11, a group of unknown private investors keen to make their mark in the film business gathered in a private room in a New York City restaurant to work out a financing deal to form a new studio to compete with the several major players already active. The identity of these investors has never been made public and they are only known as Mr. 4, Mr. 8, Mrs. 15, Mr. 16, Mrs. 23, and Mr. 42 respectively. In the spring of Year 11 the financing deal was completed and a new film studio was born. Given the title Numerator Pictures, the studio was put under the calm and methodical guiding hand of a CEO/film buff who, since he represented the financers whose names are only known as digits, has been referred to as "Numbers," as he represents the numbers of the investors providing the initial money pool for the studio. Numbers immediately launched into a rapid organizational scheme that assembled a small but well-funded and organized production company within weeks and bought several spec scripts to begin development of. Pre-production of the first Numerator Pictures films started in July of Year 11. The First Year For its first year as a CAYOM studio, Numerator Pictures released several films, though most were small productions meant to earn some profit and establish a wide base for audiences. The only two major films of note from the year from the studio were Silver Sword and Avergond. Silver Sword was an action/thriller directed by J.J. Abrams that follows the premise of a decorated Special Forces officer being framed for the murder of the Secretary of Defense and his attempts to evade capture by federal law enforcement agents while trying to unravel the mystery behind the murder and its links to an impending terrorist attack in Washington D.C. The film starred Matt Damon as the framed man and Kiefer Sutherland as the CIA agent leading the pursuit of him. The film was a success at the box office, opening to $44,564,463 in its opening weekend (July 19-21) and finding its way to $136,545,480 domestically. In the winter of that year a sequel was greenlit. Avergond was what is commonly referred to as a "sword and sandal epic," taking place in a fictional world similar to pre-medieval Europe. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film follows Halfin, the crown prince of Avergond, played by Eric Bana, who is driven from the country after his younger brother, played by Christian Bale, stages a coup that ousts their sickly father. Halfin then has to reconcile with an old enemy and raise an army to defeat his evil brother. The film opened to a decent $28,839,934 the weekend before Christmas (Dec. 20-22) but then grew very strong legs and ran out to an astounding $330,535,076, helped by the film's critical approval and stunning Oscar success. The Upstart Surprises When the Golden Globe nominations appeared in December of Year 12, Avergond was well represented with 5 nominations, including Best Drama, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. However it came home empty-handed, losing both Best Drama and Best Director to the Martin Scorsese crime film Stars of the Serial. Coming in 4th place out of 6 films in Best Drama, Numbers accepted that Avergond would get solid periphreal attention but not amaze at the Oscars. When the Oscar nominations came around at the end of January this belief was partially confirmed when, though Avergond received 10 nominations, most of them were tech categories and the film received no acting nominations aside from Best Ensemble (it had been nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Globes). The consensus among most prognosticators was that either Stars of the Serial or the fun musical Lady Luck would take home Best Picture. Numbers was one of those prognosticators and bet to a fellow studio head that if Stars of the Serial or Lady Luck did not win Best Picture, he would eat his own hat. When the Oscar ceremony began, things began surprisingly well, with Avergond winning multiple technical categories, including stealing Original Score from Lady Luck. Lady Luck however matched many of Avergond's wins and the two films began winning most of the categories between them two. Avergond though had still only won tech awards while Lady Luck had taken home Best Supporting Actor, until a surprise win for Best Ensemble indicated greater overall support than anticipated. Stars of the Serial taking home Best Director further complicated things and the Best Picture race was now a three-way of confusion. When Best Picture came it seem everyone in the auditorium was on edge. Tom Hanks came onto the stage and announced that the winner of Best Picture was...Avergond. A narrow winner over Stars of the Serial for Best Picture and winner of seven awards overall, Avergond had been the first film since Year 1 by a first-time studio to win Best Picture and issued a clear statement to the rest of Hollywood: Numerator Pictures means business. As the shock subsided and the cast and crew celebrated, a certain studio CEO quietly began eating a hat. Taking Root (Years 13-16) Numerator Pictures entered Year 13 fresh off of a surprising Oscar coup and ready to cement its position as a powerful film studio. The studio released several pictures during the year but again only two were of major note. The first was The Legend of Hartwick, a fantasy film meant to be the start of a franchise. The film starred William Moseley, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Kate Beckinsdale, and David Thewlis and after opening over Independence Day weekend grossed $206,148,773 domestically. The other two films of the planned trilogy were greenlit following the success, though no one could have predicted just how successful the franchise would turn out to be. The studio also pushed for Oscar glory a second time with the political drama Tuesday in November.